This is a fan’s personal view of AFC Bournemouth from the outside looking in. It reports on the daily official activities reported by the club and comments made by individual fans on social media and fanbase websites. Life as an AFCB fan is never dull. As a life-long supporter of the Cherries, it is the friendliness of the staff, fans and my enthusiasm for the club that inspired me to write this blog.

Friday, 19 May 2017

"Flirting with relegation.. was disappointing," says Leicester Till I Die

Well we had to get to the last game of the season at some point and as we do we also come to the last Rival Lines of this season. Of course, we have saved one of the best to last and Chris Forryan at Leicester Till I Die website. As current champions, Leicester City is a good place to bow out, but they have had quite a tumultuous season, not least last night when things rather unravelled for them against Tottenham, so let's see has to say about his team's season and his feelings about the campaign which is drawing to a close.

CC: Do you think Leicester City would have been relegated under Claudio Ranieri if had not been sacked, and did he have to go for the Foxes to move on from the heroics of last season?Defo. I will always love Ranieri for what he did for the club and he is genuinely a nice guy but it was all going wrong, and he should have actually gone earlier in January. Football is a results business and last season he got the results, this season he didn’t – end of.CC: Was too much emphasis put on doing well in the Champion's League or was the balance about right?Despite what was being written I do not believe emphasis was being put on the Champions League. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but even when there was no Champions League Action we played badly under Ranieri.CC: Who would you least like to lose over the summer - Schmeichel, Mahrez or Vardy and why?Can I answer by saying who would I be least upset to see leave. Mahrez can go. We have seen the best of him and teams have worked him out. We have a much better replacement in Gray and if he stays Mahrez will be no loss. Sometime you have to accept that players have reached their peak with a certain club and I think Mahrez did with us last season.CC: Without Europe next season are you confident that Leicester City could challenge for a top six finish again?Yes! The way we have played since Ranieri left leaves me to feel why couldn’t we be top 6 again?

CC: Who have you been most impressed with in the team this season?Kasper Schmeichel has been a rock and excellent as a stand in Captain since Wes Morgan’s injury. But when he gets on Ben Chilwell has been a revelation. Young and a future England left back. Let's hope we can hold onto him. CC: Have you been disappointed or pleased with the season as a whole as a Leicester fan?Both. Champions League quarter finalists and the last British Team in the champions League – not bad for little old Leicester. League though was very disappointing, flirting with relegation at one point as reigning PL Champions was most disappointing.CC: Is Craig Shakespeare a really top manager or is he a reasonable coach that has taken over a top team that was under performing?Who cares? He has turned our season round. Only time will tell to be fair but personally I hope he gets the job full time.CC: Do you have high hopes for Demarai Gray?If Mahrez goes Gray will step up, the problem we will have is if Mahrez stays I think he will go.CC: What was the most pleasing result of Leicester's season? 2-0 at home in the second leg of the last 16 game in the Champions League v Sevilla.CC: What do Leicester have to guard against when playing Bournemouth?Compliancy, but then I think that could apply to Bournemouth as well. It’s a dead end game and I just hope that two teams turn up and don’t have their minds on the beach.CC: How do you expect Leicester City to line up against Bournemouth?4-4-2 and look at the last 2 games as will be the same line up. Why fox it if its not broken. The only change will be if Huth is fit to return but I expect (subject to injuries against Spurs midweek)Schmeichel / Simpson, Benaloune, Fuchs (Huth), Chilwell (Fuchs) / Mahrez, King, Ndidi, Albrighton / Okazaki, VardyCC: Chris certainly knows his stuff on the Foxes and even if Mahrez is seen as 'so last year,' I suspect that Leicester City will still get a good price for him if he does leave for a Champions League side. As for being on the beach, I suppose Bournemouth players don't have far to go but I sense that Sunday's game will be a match where both sides test the opposition and give their best for the fans. A high score draw is my prediction. Thanks again to Chris, and please visit his blog to see what he has said about the Foxes throughout the season.

BBC Radio Solent talk to Eddie Howe after a disappointing 4-1 defeat in Yorkshire

Eddie Howe speaks to BBC Radio Solent on doing the double over Stoke City

Cherries substitutions made the difference for Howe

Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe is full of praise for Joshua King and Lys Mousset, who both came off the bench to score as the Cherries came from behind to beat Stoke City 2-1 #afcb ��https://t.co/Z0ttI4azBx

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About Me

I love watching AFCB with my two sons and you'll see me at Dean Court most home games and some away ones as I am an exile, no longer living in Bournemouth. I have supported the Cherries since the late 1970s, but did not go to my first match until 1981. I am a business to business magazine journalist on an international publication. I have been a journalist since 1992 when I completed my post-graduate diploma in journalism studies at Cardiff University.